R&R principal Sylvain Raynes calls for the government to take the lead in weaning the financial markets off their reliance on rating agencies. Reuters reports, “The Obama administration has said it wants markets to reduce their reliance on ratings […] Continue Reading…
Public interest journalism blog ProPublica interviewed R&R’s Sylvain Raynes regarding reports that AIG has sold off dozens of subsidiaries in order to repay the $85 billion it owes American taxpayers. “There’s nothing wrong with private transactions between consenting adults,” […] Continue Reading…
Reading Hollywood news reports is a lot like reading Pravda and Izvestia back in the days of the old Soviet Union. You have to read heavily between the lines and ignore most of what is said.
This is especially true […] Continue Reading…
Bloomberg quotes R&R’s Sylvain Raynes on Morgan Stanley’s plans to repackage a downgraded collateralized debt obligation into new securities with AA ratings, the first transaction of its kind:
“A lot of banks and insurers ‘cannot buy anything but AAA,’ said […] Continue Reading…
Life is full of ironies. After all, it is pretty ironic that a book detailing how an underfunded professional baseball team was transformed into a budget-friendly powerhouse would actually be a primer on statistics and the need to radically […] Continue Reading…
Before the beginning of the silly season (better known as the Summer Releases), I predicted the impending demise of the big budget tent pole movie. But gee whiz, gosh golly, gee bang oh molly, with the whopping big opening […] Continue Reading…
I was a nice guy until I became a landlord. I smiled a lot and said “Good morning” and “How you doing?” and patted the dog occasionally and my wife more frequently. Then I became responsible for the lives […] Continue Reading…
By admin | Published:
June 25, 2009
A review of Contagion: The Financial Epidemic That Is Sweeping the Global Economy…And How To Protect Yourself From It, by John R. Talbott
John Talbott has established a well-deserved reputation as a financial soothsayer, enjoying an incredible run of spot-on […] Continue Reading…
By admin | Published:
June 23, 2009
“If everybody is playing by the same set of rules, whether you are talking about loan origination or securitization, then it becomes very hard to game the system. The lack of definitions is a huge problem… If the Congress, […] Continue Reading…
The great thing about the internet is the widespread availability of information. Lots and lots of little strings of information, all floating in the free-fall zone of the Web. So much information that people rarely have time to contrast […] Continue Reading…